Alder grinned, a bit smitten with Saffron's shy smile. She didn't seem put off by his rambling, which was a good sign, and it was a pretty cute smile, all things considered. Her blush, he discovered a few seconds later, was pretty adorable as well. He laughed at her comment, his eyes crinkling a little at the corner with the power of his smile.
"Suuuure," he replied jokingly. "I'll have to make a note" - he mimed taking out a notepad (even flipping it open) and writing with a pen - "The way to a woman's heart is hot beverages." He flipped his imaginary notepad shut again and then tucked it back into his shirt pocket with a cheeky wink in Saffron's direction.
He laughed again at Saffron's comment about the other trainees, nodding. "Yeah, that sounds about right. I think I've seen a few go tumbling out at closing time, now that you mention it. During the day it's pretty family-friendly - my sister's got a little one herself - but it can get pretty rowdy at night." His eyes crinkled again at the mention of guys and girls they'd met, he could imagine quite a bit of what was said. Probably only half of it was as bad as what Cy did when she got all starry-eyed over Thoth, but it wasn't really the time or place to mention that. Partially because Cy would kill him for revealing her crush, and partially because Thoth was a wanted criminal and that might be a bit hard for someone like Saffron to swallow.
He accepted the cup when she offered it, taking a drink before passing it back. "Sibling love is a funny thing, isn't it?" he said with a laugh when she mentioned she'd said worse about her brother. He cocked his head to the side with a curious smile. "Is he older or younger? I'm the baby of the family so apparently that increases my obnoxious level. Although Cy's only about an hour or two ahead of me, so I don't know that it counts as much as she'd like."
River nodded cheerfully when Saffron mentioned the forest, her curiosity obvious. "Well that's the fun part, isn't it?" he asked with a wink. "Though it might hurt my image, I don't actually run into too much trouble with any of the outlaws or anything like that. Did almost get killed by a Great Occiva a few months ago. I'd show you my fancy scars but..." He gestured around to their surroundings. "We Fyren-fairies are pretty wimpy when it comes to cold."
He cocked his head to the side when she spoke of her goal, shaking his head when she mentioned it sounded naive. "I don't think so," he replied honestly. "If no one thought like you did, this world would be a whole lot worse off, don't you think? My mum always felt the same way. She had a rough time of things when she was younger, ran into some bad people and got herself into some pretty serious trouble, but some good people saved her, and if not for them, well..." He shrugged, then grinned. "I wouldn't be here today. So, I'm pretty grateful there're people like you out there."
He shifted his stance, nodding as she asked after his mother. "Yeah, she did. She said she liked Flynn and his family a lot, called them good folks. Danny's a cool guy, he's friends with both my sisters and our foster brother. Actually delivered Olive and Olive's daughter Effie if that doesn't just scream Shaman. My mum, Birch, came to Shaman from elsewhere, then shortly after Olive was born went to a place called Knell, where me n' Cy were born. Oli got pregnant with Effie, then we ended up back here in Shaman. There was some stuff in the middle," - like his father and mother dying, but that wasn't very light-hearted. - "Because apparently everything here is weird and complicated, us included." He laughed, shaking his head at it all. And his story wasn't even the weirdest one he'd heard since his arrival!
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